‘The Voice’ welcomes Nashville rocker Megan Ruger

When she's performing in a bar on Lower Broadway, Megan Ruger says she can't finish a gig without singing the country hit "Wagon Wheel." But that tune comes at a price.

Megan Ruger performs on 'The Voice'

"I won't play it for less than $20," she tells The Tennessean with a laugh.

The 26-year-old Nashville resident is more interested in singing '80s rock classics by the likes of Heart and Pat Benatar - whether the honky-tonk crowd likes it or not. Now, she's getting to fully embrace her inner Joan Jett as a finalist on NBC's hit singing competition show "The Voice."

"It was the longest 90 seconds of my life," she says. Coaches Blake Shelton and Usher waited until the last second to turn their chairs around and offer her a spot on their teams. Ruger decided to join "Team Blake," and it wasn't just for the local connection.

"From being in Nashville and seeing how Blake handles his artists past the show - he's behind them, and he takes them on the road, and he tweets for them and backs them up. He's just such a genuine person."

Given her obsession with '80s music, Ruger believes she "should have been born much sooner." On Lower Broadway, there's only a few rock songs from that era that her audience really gets into.

"They expect to come to Nashville and hear some Hank Williams and Patsy Cline, which I totally respect and definitely have been inspired by them, but in my heart, I've been totally inspired by all of the '80s rock kings and queens."

Still, it's been invaluable practice. Ruger says she's learned a lot since she moved to Nashville from Wisconsin six years ago, and "could name off a handful of people on Broadway that are fantastic, that deserve to be in the position I'm in right now." She's keeping that perspective as she prepares to compete on "The Voice."

"I just want people to know that I'm a real person. I'm as true as I can be...There's nothing to hide, I guess I can say."